Rwandans in Uganda to vote in upcoming elections

The High Commissioner of the Republic of Rwanda, Maj. Gen Frank Mugambage, addressed the media at Rwanda High Commission. Photo by Ramadhan Abbey

Hardly a month to its presidential polls, Rwanda's envoy to Uganda, Frank Mugambagye, says all is set for over 6000 Rwandese living in Uganda to vote in an election pitting incumbent president, Paul Kagame, against two candidates.

On 4^th August, Rwanda is set to go to the polls to choose a president that will steer it for the next seven years.

Other candidates in the race include Frank Abimeza, the candidate of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and Phillip Maimana an independent. Just like it was in 2010, the mission's premises will provide a polling station.

"We expect over 6000 Rwandans to vote from here on 3^rd August. All is set and the campaigns are going on," Mugambagye told the media at Rwanda's embassy earlier today.

Rwanda, according to Mugambagye, has an estimated 45,000 of its citizens living in the diaspora and all will be given an opportunity to vote at its missions in different corners of the globe.

Although he did not explicitly state so, the ambassador noted that Kagame is on odds favorite to retain his ‘crown' - citing his leadership skills that have enabled Rwanda to raise from the ashes of the 1994 genocide.

"People talk about the miracle that is Rwanda, but that is not true. The people of Rwanda under the leadership of president Kagame have made painful, difficult but correct choices," Mugambagye said.

The envoy did not shirk from fielding ‘uncomfortable' questions about Kagame's intolence to dissenting voices as alleged  by international human rights watchdogs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Mugambagye took a swipe at Kagame's detractors, saying most of the reports are written from a point of ignorance about the country's blood drenched history.

Regarding the 2015 constitutional amendments and subsequent referendum allowing Kagame to seek a third term, Mugambagye noted when it comes to democracy, there is no size that fits all.

"Does democracy mean change of leadership for the sake of it. In the referendum, the people of Randa said no," Mugambagye noted.

Kagame, 59, has been a leading light in Rwandan politics since 1994, when an offensive by his ethnic Tutsi rebel force, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, put an end to a genocide by Hutu fighters that left an estimated 800,000 of his community dead.

Rather than seek vengeance, Kagame decided to heal the gaping wounds of genocide through reconciliation and community justice system called Gacaca.

Kagame first served as minister of defense and vice president, and then took the presidency in 2003, winning 95 percent of the vote.

He was re-elected in 2010 for a second seven-year term with a similarly resounding mandate.